


A Garden State of Mind

by ASchmidts



Category: Miss Congeniality (Movies)
Genre: Changing Rooms, Fluff, Gen, Makeup, Outtakes, Prepare for Caries, This is Where the Magic Happens, Unexpected Female Solidarity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29586531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ASchmidts/pseuds/ASchmidts
Summary: Gracie Lou Freebush finds solidarity in unexpected places. Grace Hart might be a little jealous.
Kudos: 3





	A Garden State of Mind

**Author's Note:**

> I recently rewatched "Miss Congeniality". Damn, what a good movie to grow up with!
> 
> However, as an adult now, I have realised one crucial fact: Eric is a grade-A jerk. If that movie had been made in 2020, not 2000, he would have been the 'stand-in jerk crush the heroine overcomes', and for that, they would not have had to change a single of his lines/actions... 
> 
> So enjoy your Eric-free outtake ;)
> 
> I listened to this to set the mood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ3wTwcAmQ8

[ ](https://ibb.co/dk24ZFx)

Vic leaves the room and Grace, sitting on her bed, shellshocked. _Shit._

But this is not the time for a freakout.

Focus. Forget about facing the sharks without Vic’s coat of varnish on her, forget about getting out there to be a piece of ass, _again_ , this is about the job. She is the job, this is about the job. Except, this time it’s _not_. But who even cares at this point anymore. _Out of the room, into that dress, agent._

Grace rushes into the dressing room, still in ratty sneakers and sweats, her pouch with cosmetics clutched tight. Everyone is a-bustle here, minutes away from squeezing into their dress and running around half-naked. On the far end of the room, the girls from table five are clustered around their vanity mirrors, setting the finishing touches on their faces and bitching at each other. In front of her she can hear Mary Jo say “...she is NOT making the top ten...” Then the redhead turns, sees her, stops. Takes in the mess that is Grace without Vic’s makeup on her face.

“Overslept my beauty sleep”, she pushes out as she scrambles around Mary Jo to sit down. Grace Hart has less than ten minutes to put a metric ton of _stuff_ onto her face, _hopefully_ only her face. Gracie Lou would have been done by now. _Shit._ From her side, she hears Sheryl say: “… do you need help?” but she is too distracted, digging, digging through all the mystifying, small containers she now wishes she had paid more attention to. _Now, which one of those is lipstick?_

She must have said the last one aloud, because it is followed by several gasps from behind her. Grace barely has time to move a muscle before she hears Sheryl’s distressed voice, calling out “Ladiiiiies?!!” and the women set on her.

Mary Jo is on her left, brushing her hair. Karen and Leslie are behind her, also doing things with brushes. Hawaii has taken off to _requisition_ all kinds of items from across the room for them, and Sheryl has taken out a sponge and is dabbing her cheek with it. They are all yelling at each other, moving around Grace like her chair is the centre of a small whirlwind. This should be like the time in the hangar, or with Vic, everyone fussing about her person, but it’s not. _No-one is getting paid for this_ _,_ she dumbly realises.

No-one paid them to put their hands on her face and into her hair. No one paid them for their time. No-one paid them to make Grace one of them. It is like a magic trick.

She closes her eyes for Sheryl, so she can apply something to her eyelids. Dust something across her cheekbones, her chin, the bridge of her nose. Opens them only as Sheryl says “Open your eyes again, Gracie”. And over the din and hairspray, around what is probably now smudging lipstick, the girl in the mirror smiles. She's gorgeous.

**Author's Note:**

> Just needed some light-heartedness, hope you enjoyed it, too :)


End file.
